Arizona weekly enterprise., 1887-09-03
DRAMA IN WINNIPEG.
A BARN sToRMiNG COMPANIES Ex.
 FERENCE IN MANITOBA.

An Audience of Indians, Trnppers and
 Traders-Playing to Enormous Houses.
 A Primitive Theatre-Two Perform
 anccs in One Night-Receipts.
 Charles Arnold, who is now star actor in England, tells of his visit to Manitoba in this fashion: ''We were advised to visit that place, Gs no dramatic company had at that time been there. Accordingly little party, numbering sixteen members of the stock company from Montreal, journeyed 2,000 miles to Winnipeg, which was then q little village This was in '79 or 50. There were no public lights. pave ments or roads in the city which con sisted of one street only. Winnipeg was inhabited by Indians, half breeds and few English settlers. We opened in the Market hall, immediately over the jail, and our performances were enlivened by the shrieks of the Indians end half breed women, who had taken too much fire water
 ''I was very much disgusted with the noble red man'-he is nothing but beg gar, after all. The ideal Indian that Fenimorc Cooper refers to is simply knocked on the head. I found one in- telligent Indian, Q nephew of Sitting Bull, who had been educated at college in Min neapolis. found he had decided taste for the drama, and from our repertoire cf twenty pieces he selected Gilbert's 'En- gagged and 'PygmGlion and Galdtea' as his favorite plays Except for the novelty of the life, there was little amusement for us in Winnipeg. The hotels were so crowded that we had to live in tents. We slept on the prairie, and for amusement VIC bor- rowed few laths, obtained some fish hooks, and went along the banks of the brooks spearing frogs. This was great fun, as we speared three or four dozen of these edible reptiles in on hour. A most delicious supper was obtained from their legs, which were dipped in egg batter, rolled in biscuit paste and fried in boiling fat.
 ''we played to enormous houses in Winnipeg Indians and half breeds made up our audiences, and every one seemed flush of money Many carried rolls of bills about with them. There were no coppcrs used, and half dime was the lowest coin. While we were in Winnipeg the mayor Of Emerson, a small town of 500 inhabitants, came up and said they had never had q dramatic performance and insisted upon our visiting that place. He said there was not much in the way of q theatre, but that they had an old bonded warehouse full of agricultural i'm Pscments, soap boxes, brandy and cham pagne cases and by clearing those out he would rig up a first class auditorium. Having two days to spare we decided to visit Emerson, and upon entering the place we were received by the inhabitants with 0 great ovation. A committee of ten had been appointed to clear out the building, which was nothing but barn, with windows on the ground floor. A hole was cut in the building for purposes of exit, and another exit was constructed from the platform on to the prairie, where tents had been rigged up for the com pany. There was no house for mile around, and we had to dress in the tents
 'tAt night there was a big house, every one coming to town on horseback. It seemed like big horse fair, as the ani- mals were picl1eted in the bushes around the building, and now and again we were startled by shrill neigh from their ;lirec- ton. The committee of ten citizens, headed by the mayor, had done their work well, and while the old warehouse did not present a very inviting appear. ancc it served a purposel The stalls, or back seats, consisted of soap and candle boxes, brandy and ehaEipagne cases placed in rows in front of the stage tho extra charge for champagne cases). may add that the cases were not empty. Each seat represented dozen or two of brandy or champagne. The committee saw that no liberties were taken with the seats @. We performed Lester WallGck's military drama, ''Rosedalc," which seemed to please our audience greatly. The lady members of our company had lively time of it ell through the performance. as the mosquitoes insisted on making their presence felt in q most uncomfortable manner. It was laughablo to sec the gentle slaps the '7ictims gave during the moro serious portions of the play to rid themselves of the stingirg pests.
 'On the second night Of our stay we performed The Shaughraun,' with all the effects, revolving tower, etc. At the con clusion of tho second act the committee waited on me and requested that we pro- long our visit another night. This could not be done, as we had engagements to meet elsewhere, but it occurred to me that VIC could give another performance that night. We could finish playing The Shaughraun' at 10:Es o'clock, and by dis missing the audience for fifteen minutes start again with another play at Il o'clock. I announced this to the audience and was received with cheers and cries of Play all nightr Well, we finished The Shaugh- raun, and the male portion of the audi ence retired to the prairie, while collect cd the admission fec for the second per formance from the ladies, who remained seated; the gentlemen then returned, pay ring nt the door.
 "At 11:15 we commenced the second programme, which consisted of bur lesque on Canadian politics, entitled HI. M s. Parliament written to 'Pinafore' music. Each character was made up to represent prominent Canadian states man. Our orchestra was small church organ, played by our conductor. That was my first experience of playing twice in one night, and there was only twelve shillings difference between the two houses. The people paid two shillings to look in the windows to see the perform -ance. Some borrowed and others stole ladders so that they might peep through the upper windows, as the house would only hold 100 or 800 people. ."-Broolllyn Ea0lo